Lloyd and Harding with Bat, Killops and Allen with Ball, but still no 30 big ones for the MCC 1XI

After a disheartening loss Eastbourne, Mayfield returned home for the final game of the win/lose 50 over cricket, against long-travelling Bognor Regis, the 4th place finishers in last years Premier Division, often reliant much on Captain, Keeper and Opening Batsman, Ryan Maskell. New skipper Raymond won the toss and elected to bowl on a slightly spicier Mayfield wicket. Raymond unfortunately did not trouble the scorers, and Fitchet and Killops did not offer more that 35 between them as Bognor controlled the first power play. Harding and the returning Lloyd came together and built beautifully on a wicket that began to look flatter than once before. The highlight of the partnership being Lloyd’s effortless slog sweeps over mid wicket off Ashmore. Having put on over 100 for the 4th wicket, Lloyd fell to one shot too many, caught at long off, and Saker and Cooke wouldn’t last long following that, both bowled as Bognor began to wrest back some momentum. Harding, though, was still there striking blows that were causing worry, until he skied off Jaycocks, leaving more than 10 overs left to be navigated by the last 3 wickets. However, 19 from Cripps, 22 from Allen and 2* from Trotter were part of an excellent final spell. All this strung together by Henry Martin’s 27, which included 2 glorious 6s, taking the score up to 287, Allen perishing off the final ball. The 58 put on by these 4 put Mayfield in a great position, one that needed to be taken advantage.

However, as we have become too accustomed to in this pink ball sector, our start was poor (along with some of the fielding and umpiring I may add). 130/0 after 13 overs was not the start we expected, with Maskell the key aggressor, accompanied by the more astute Walsh, Bognor’s Aussie Overseas. Together they put away many a bad ball and created havoc on Raymond’s captaincy. The breakthrough finally came through Cripps, who after sconing Maskell, had him caught hooking in the ring by Harding. Allen then returned to turn the screw once more as he had Jaycocks and Ashmore both caught in his final over. Harris troubled the scorers for 15 before inspiration change bowler Killops had him caught behind, and Killops continued fantastically with 2 more wickets of Woolnough (T) and Seward. From a position of 200/1, Bognor had lost 6 for 57 and still needed 31 with their ever growing tail. Unfortunately, extras and more bad bowling cost us. 75 extras sent down in total, only 1 bye and 6 leg byes included. Jays carted the winning runs off a poor full toss by Trotter, which evidently summed up the day for us as Bognor ran out winners by 3 wickets.

With 4 losses and a cancellation, Mayfield sit just outside the relegation zone. Next weeks clashed against bottom of the league Roffey (champions last year) seems like an early season 60 pointer. Will the red ball and whites changed our fortunes?